Melbourne AI-based education startup Teacher’s Buddy has raised $1.85 million in Seed funding to tackle teacher burnout.
The round was led by Giant Leap, supported by Flying Fox Ventures, Co Ventures, Exhort Ventures, Saniel Ventures and Soul Capital.
Sze’s new startup lightens the administrative load and supports ongoing professional development for teachers, as well as analysing data to improve student outcomes.
“Teachers are working more than 50 hours a week, with up to a third of that time lost to planning and admin,” he said.
“Teacher’s Buddy aims to reverse these trends by delivering an all-in-one, AI-enhanced workspace designed to lighten the load, foster growth, and unlock every student’s potential.”
The platform has already been deployed by more than 12,000 teachers across 130 countries and signed 15 school partnerships in Australia and New Zealand.
Already it was found to save around 12 days of work, spanning planning, marking, reports and meeting planning, in a single term, which is close to a 20% productivity gain.
The cash will be used expand the engineering and product teams, build out the roadmap, and scale go-to-market efforts in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Cofounder Matt Abraham said they have ambitious targets they want to hit over the next 12 months – 30,000 teachers and 200 school partners.
“But we also know we’re directly addressing a fundamental issue in global education, one that’s only getting worse,” he said.
“Our early traction is proof of how urgent and widespread the need for a solution really is.”
Giant Leap partner Adam Milgrom said teacher capacity is one of the most under-recognised levers for improving student outcomes.
“When teachers are overwhelmed by administrative demands, their ability to focus on students suffers,” he said.
“By applying AI to reduce workload and streamline planning, Ben and Matt are not only improving teacher wellbeing but also enhancing learning outcomes. The rapid adoption of Teacher’s Buddy reflects the urgency of this challenge and the global relevance of their solution.”
Maxine Minter from Co Ventures said they see education “as one of those white whales — an industry everyone knows is broken” but tough to fix with traditional software.
“With AI now in our toolkit, we finally have a chance to test those old assumptions and reimagine what it means to support teachers and educate the next generation,” she said.
“What makes this moment special is the team. It’s rare, especially in Australia, to find founders who’ve lived this problem and already built successfully in the same space. This inflection point in technology gives us the chance to back Ben and Matt as they take another run at a challenge they’ve been obsessed with for years.”
